Are There Places To Avoid When You’re Buying Real Estate?

For many people especially those of modest financial means, a real estate property or investment could be a lifelong investment and a single mistake in buying one could ruin a person’s/family’s financial position for years and even decades.

Almost everyone that doesn’t own their own home dreams of owning one. Even most people who already have their own home also dreams of buying another home. This is because to many, owning a home means financial security, stable shelter and financial status symbol.

Of course, investing in real estate is a very expensive activity and not many can afford it. This is the reason why when a cheap real estate investment pops up, it is easily bought by many people.

The saying: “Buyer Beware” applies to real estate. There might be a good reason why a real estate is being sold at a cheap price. Is the house a money pit? Are your neighbors peaceful? These should be some of the questions you should ask before buying a home.

This also applies to homes located near public transport like train and bus station/paths. The same also applies to home near busy streets and highways. In short, any places where the home is continuously bombarded by vehicle noise and traffic.

Everybody knows that the sound of an airplane, train and bus is not good to hear. The sound of these big noisy vehicles especially airplanes can be very nerve-wracking especially if heard in a continuous basis throughout the day.

Just imagine if you’re resting at night trying to watch television or even sleeping. The sound of these vehicles can drown out the sound of the television show you are watching. Your sleep might even get disturbed because of the constant noises of these vehicles.

If you are near a train station or bus station, you not only get to hear the noise of these vehicles but you also get to hear the voices of the commuters waiting for their train or buses. If a gang of commuters like disorderly people loiters in the station, they can be very noisy or dangerous.

The obvious benefits of living in such homes/areas is that you are very near transport and therefore you can probably save on daily transport costs. Airline and train personnel may also choose these areas due to its proximity to their company.

Having personally experienced staying in homes that are adjacent to schools, I can definitely say that the sound created by multitudes of children can be very irritating at times. This is especially true also if their teachers have to use loudspeakers to teach or instruct children.

Imagine having to live through such noise five to seven times a week from morning to afternoon. Imagine watching television programs or listening to radio but all you hear instead are the sounds of classrooms.

There is also the issue of students loitering in places outside of the school. This especially applies to teen students who can be rowdy and noisy at times. Street Vendors could also loiter in the area causing a lot of foot traffic, noise and garbage.

There is also the issue of specialist schools. For example, there are schools especially setup to cater to students of a certain religious affiliation. If you constantly hear teachings which contradict your belief, you may become very irritated always.

Government laws may also prevent you from making loud sounds yourself if you are near schools and universities. For example, there are government regulations that prohibit the use of car horns near schools. You might not be able to use your car’s horn even if you needed to.

The same problems with being near schools is also the same problems with being buildings or places of religious worship. There are aggressive religions who use loud speakers to broadcast their ceremonies.

Besides this, aggressive religions also broadcast aggressively their daily call to prayers which can be very irritating to the people around these buildings of religious worship. This is especially true if these religions have several call to prayers on a daily basis.

Of course these irritations/problems would not affect you or lightly affect you only if your belief is the same as the religion being practiced in these buildings of religious worship. The bad part is if you don’t adhere to the beliefs of such religion.

If you don’t adhere to the beliefs of the said religion or is someone just lukewarm to the religion, you may face the irritation of having to deal with the devotees of the said religion who linger in the area and try to convert/take over the area.

If this happens, you might be ostracized by the people in your area because you don’t share the same religious belief like them. These same people may try to enforce their own dress code for example of which you are against to.

Being in a place very near factories or being in a place in the proximity of an industrial area can be very irritating. This is because there are factories which emit very loud noises like lumber mills, metal recycling plants and so on.

These same factories can also be smelly and even toxic. For example, leather tanning factories are known to be very smelly. The same is true with sewage treatment facilities. These places also emit harmful molecules in the air which can reach even the inside of your home.

The roads near your area could also be congested always with traffic. For example, airports, container terminals, sea ports and the likes are always full of delivery trucks which throughout the day go inside and outside of these places.

There are even factories who operate on a 24 hour basis and are noisy and smelly to boot. If you’re buying real estate near the area and don’t see any problems during the day, try visiting at night to see if the 24 hour nature of these factories can disrupt your lifestyle.

You must also be very careful of home based factories especially if you’re not living in areas which have zoning laws. Your neighbor/s for example might own a garage furniture manufacturing business which carry the same problems as a real factory.

Stores and Strip Malls are popular destinations for many people out of leisure and necessity. You might be tempted to buy real estate near such establishments because of their convenience, forgetting the fact that the constant foot traffic might disrupt your lifestyle.

There is also the issue of sanitation. It is a well known fact that these two establishments create a lot of garbage on a daily basis that there is a high likelihood that rats and other rodents might infest the area.

There is also the issue of delivery trucks creating constant noise and traffic. Delivery trucks are big vehicles which can be very noisy when running and offloading their cargo. They can also block road paths as they are making their deliveries.

Don’t forget also the issue of traffic. Just like constant foot traffic, there is also a constant stream of cars and other vehicles going to and from these establishments. Parking in these areas can also be chaotic with inconsiderate shoppers illegally parking their cars.

Another thing to consider would be the constant noise created by the foot traffic and the vehicles coming and going to these establishments. Some customers of these establishments may even loiter and cause a lot of noise.

This is one of the biggest reasons why real estate in some places are being sold dirt cheap. The geographical elevation of an area can be so low that even a small amount of rain can cause heavy flooding in the area.

There are even governments like the one in the US which has specific home building laws in some areas in their country. They mandate that such houses should be built with a certain elevation from the ground. Be very wary of living in such places.

A good way to check if a home and its area is prone to flooding is to check the news. If the news says that the area is consistently flooded most of the time, better rethink your decision to buy this cheap real estate.

Don’t forget that it’s not only the house which gets water damaged when floods come. All the objects both inside and outside of the home gets water damaged which includes the car which can be very expensive to replace.

There are even homeowners who are forced to abandon their homes on a consistent basis for long periods of time due to floods. There are those who stay in their backup homes, in hotels, relative’s homes and with friend’s homes which can be very inconvenient and costly.

This is not to denigrate people living in slums or in poor neighborhoods, but it is a well known fact that such areas represent low valued real estate prices than normal if one has a property in the area and wants to sell it.

This is because slums and poor neighborhood have a reputation for being noisy and filthy places where you would likely encounter dirty beggars. These areas also have a reputation for being crime infested.

These areas are more than likely to receive little attention and funding from their local government. For example, these areas would most likely have a very low density of street lighting due to funding issues which in turn attract crime and other nefarious activities.

The same with flood prone areas, be very wary of buying cheap real estate in these areas. The neighborhoods in these areas might be clean and safe but its reputation might consistently give it low home resale values.

It would also be advisable if you visit the neighborhood at night just to see what it’s like when the area is in dark. This is because this is usually the time when criminals and people of questionable character come alive.

Many people even those who already have one dream of buying real estate. This is because real estate as a personal shelter or an investment is perceived to be a sound financial investment which also gives the owner financial status symbol in society.

There are plenty of reasons why a cheap real estate seems to be good to be true. The reasons have all been previously enumerated but at the core all these reasons/problem will not only inconvenience the lifestyle of the home owner but also bring their home resale value down.

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Home Background Checker

Buying or renting a house, apartment and any other real estate property is one of the biggest decisions one could make especially financially. This is an investment where you have to live in it for a long period of time and even permanently so any negative or positive things about it can affect you on a permanent basis as well...